Canadian Railroads > VIA's corridor trains

It had been five months since I was on a VIA train - a record for me. Until recently, governments encouraged people to stay at home. VIA amended their "Love the way" slogan to read "Staying home is how we love the way." Until recently, at the entrance to Toronto Union station there was a notice indicating that entry to the station was "for essential trips only."  Now that many restrictions have been eased by public health authorities, VIA is saying they are prepared to welcome us back. None of the trains currently in service has much appeal to me, but an invitation to have lunch with friends in Belleville gave me the incentive to book a trip.

The train my friend and I took to Belleville was #52/62 a "J" train with a total of four locomotives and 11 coaches. Each consist has a Business Class car which is not used, although I did see a few lucky people sitting in one of them. At Toronto Union each section of the "J" train was boarded through separate gates, which is the usual procedure. A few brief health questions were asked by the gate attendant. Seat assignments given by the computer are not used. The attendant at the coach for short-haul passengers told the two of us to sit in a quad. Half the seats in the coach were marked with a "do not sit here" sign. VIA says there is only a slight increase in passenger numbers but there appeared to be quite a few people spread out through the train. Several entrained at Oshawa and after Cobourg our coach was half full. All passengers travelling alone had the double seat to themselves.

Economy passengers normally receive nothing complimentary  to eat or drink, but with the absence of any food and beverage service a box is distributed. It contained a bottle of cold water, hummus and crackers and a chocolate bar as well as paper napkins and a moist paper towel - the type handed out heated in Business Class. Many passengers brought their own food which I would do on  a longer trip.

When passengers detrained, the crew placed a "do not sit here" sign on their seats and the seats were cleaned as soon as possible. During the trip I saw a crew member go into the washrooms with disinfectant. All passengers wore masks as required. VIA now says they will detrain any passenger who refuses to wear a face covering except when eating or drinking.

Track work by CN caused us to be 45 minutes late. At the time of booking, VIA warned that delays of approximately 30 minutes should be expected. My "boarding pass" had the same notice. Frequent announcements were made on board.  Delays to Belleville have been between 10 and 45 minutes.

VIA is showing a doubling of corridor service starting the 10th of September. Business Class is showing as being available as of that date. My contacts at VIA say none of this is guaranteed.

Glad to hear you got back out on the rails. I'm wondering why VIA  canceled Business Class in the first place. I would think more spread out seating would be a plus. Personally I buy Business class not for the meal service, but rather for more leg room and peace and quite. I also don't get why VIA stopped running the Ocean. It's not at all a social experience like the Canadian. By contrast Amtrak has continued to run all their overnight trains with sleepers during the pandemic. I haven't read about anyone's infection being traced to Amtrak although I's probably happened. 

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> ........................I also don't get why VIA
> stopped running the Ocean. It's not at all a
> social experience like the Canadian.......

There is a 14 day quarantine requirement at the Quebec-New Brunswick border for anything other than essential travel....and until July 3rd there was also a 14 day quarantine between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia so it would have been a long trip from Montreal to Halifax on the 'Ocean' !

Since July 3rd we can now travel within the Atlantic Provinces (NB, NS, PEI & NL) without having to quarantine so I guess it's possible VIA could operate a Halifax-Moncton-Campbellton only 'Ocean' This would be the route of the 'Intercity' train VIA has been proposing for the past couple of years.

I drove to Moncton on Friday and even with the new relaxed quarantine requirements here.....I still had to apply online the day before to enter New Brunswick and show my ID at the NS-NB border. With a pop of 2.5 million in the Atlantic Provinces we have only 10 active Covid cases here now and people want to keep that number as low as possible!  



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/20 11:25 by ghCBNS.

Sounds really promising! I to haven't been on a train since our trip to Vancouver from Toronto on February 9.
Hopefully Business Class will be up and running when you said Via is hopingto start it again in September !
I'm ready to book a trip to Montreal!
Thanks for sharing this info !...:):):)

DrawingroomA Wrote:
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> It had been five months since I was on a VIA train
> - a record for me. Until recently, governments
> encouraged people to stay at home. VIA amended
> their "Love the way" slogan to read "Staying home
> is how we love the way." Until recently, at the
> entrance to Toronto Union station there was a
> notice indicating that entry to the station was
> "for essential trips only."  Now that many
> restrictions have been eased by public health
> authorities, VIA is saying they are prepared to
> welcome us back. None of the trains currently in
> service has much appeal to me, but an invitation
> to have lunch with friends in Belleville gave me
> the incentive to book a trip.
>
> The train my friend and I took to Belleville was
> #52/62 a "J" train with a total of four
> locomotives and 11 coaches. Each consist has a
> Business Class car which is not used, although I
> did see a few lucky people sitting in one of them.
> At Toronto Union each section of the "J" train was
> boarded through separate gates, which is the usual
> procedure. A few brief health questions were asked
> by the gate attendant. Seat assignments given by
> the computer are not used. The attendant at the
> coach for short-haul passengers told the two of us
> to sit in a quad. Half the seats in the coach were
> marked with a "do not sit here" sign. VIA says
> there is only a slight increase in passenger
> numbers but there appeared to be quite a few
> people spread out through the train. Several
> entrained at Oshawa and after Cobourg our coach
> was half full. All passengers travelling alone had
> the double seat to themselves.
>
> Economy passengers normally receive nothing
> complimentary  to eat or drink, but with the
> absence of any food and beverage service a box is
> distributed. It contained a bottle of cold water,
> hummus and crackers and a chocolate bar as well as
> paper napkins and a moist paper towel - the type
> handed out heated in Business Class. Many
> passengers brought their own food which I would do
> on  a longer trip.
>
> When passengers detrained, the crew placed a "do
> not sit here" sign on their seats and the seats
> were cleaned as soon as possible. During the trip
> I saw a crew member go into the washrooms with
> disinfectant. All passengers wore masks as
> required. VIA now says they will detrain any
> passenger who refuses to wear a face covering
> except when eating or drinking.
>
> Track work by CN caused us to be 45 minutes late.
> At the time of booking, VIA warned that delays of
> approximately 30 minutes should be expected. My
> "boarding pass" had the same notice. Frequent
> announcements were made on board.  Delays to
> Belleville have been between 10 and 45 minutes.
>
> VIA is showing a doubling of corridor service
> starting the 10th of September. Business Class is
> showing as being available as of that date. My
> contacts at VIA say none of this is guaranteed.

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Glad to hear you got back out on the rails. I'm
> wondering why VIA  canceled Business Class in the
> first place. I would think more spread out seating
> would be a plus. Personally I buy Business class
> not for the meal service, but rather for more leg
> room and peace and quite. I also don't get why VIA
> stopped running the Ocean. It's not at all a
> social experience like the Canadian. By contrast
> Amtrak has continued to run all their overnight
> trains with sleepers during the pandemic. I
> haven't read about anyone's infection being traced
> to Amtrak although I's probably happened. 

VIA's explanation for the lack of Business Class (and any meal and beverage service other than the box of goodies) is to minimise contact between staff and passengers.

Many, if not most, airlines have used the same reason for providing almost no service in their Business Class. Basically all they were providing was a larger seat. Airport lounges were closed and there was no bar service on board and only a skimpy wrapped snack tray. Several airlines are gradually improving this. Air Canada has started to re-open the lounges and they - and some other airlines - have concluded they can safely hand out individual cans or bottles of pop, beer and wine.

Eurostar is charging £272 for full first class from London to Paris and not even providing water on board, let alone the usual Champagne.
 
With Reservia showing Business Class returning as of the 10th of Sept. I wonder if there will be amended service, such as a more simple food tray and wine distributed in individual bottles.  The meal service was adjusted in 2012 and since then the trays, including the hot main course, were put together in the galley and simply distributed from the trolley. This is fairly low risk as it is.
 

Good info DrawingroomA.  Glad you did a trip.  Now if I could get to Vancouver or Churchill this fall!!

viatrainrider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good info DrawingroomA.  Glad you did a trip. 
> Now if I could get to Vancouver or Churchill this
> fall!!

The group for our annual November trip on the Canadian was to be seven or eight. Only four of us booked before VIA put a hold on sleeping car bookings. Our bookings are still valid but, of course, the train may be coaches only until January. I don't know when VIA will let us know their intentions.

November would be a good month to resume the train with "distancing" arrangements. The closure of our border to leisure travellers shouldn't be a big problem because in the off-season VIA  does not depend heavily on passengers from out of the country as they do in the peak season. The passenger loads are light. There are often only three or four sleepers plus an almost-empty Prestige sleeper. In my experience, the sleepers in November are nowhere near capacity. Most single and double cabins are taken, but many doubles are booked by one passenger and many of the berths in the sections are not taken.